Tag Archives: Freeware Arsenal

Backup your Data or Lose it!

Posted by on September 25, 2009 No comments

FBackup is free software with a simple interface and guides you through the process of defining a backup job using a friendly wizard that asks you:

  • Where do you want to store the backup (the destination).
  • What do you want to backup (the sources).
  • How do you want to run the backup (using full backup that zips the files, or mirror backup that doesn’t zip them).
  • When do you want to run the backup (you can schedule it to run autmatically or run it manually).

Once a backup job is defined you can run it manually by pressing the Backup button (or F6), or if you added a scheduler it will run automatically. FBackup can easily back up sources from local drives (including USB connected drives) to destinations such as USB/Firewire connected devices or mapped network locations. It creates either standard zip files (when using the full backup type), or exact copies of the original sources without any compression (using the mirror backup type).

Main Features

It’s free for personal and commercial purposes.
FBackup is a backup software free for both commercial and personal use. This means that you can save some money by not having to buy another backup program.

Automatic backups.
You define a backup job, set it to run automatically, and forget about it. FBackup will automatically run the backup at the scheduled date, so you have the benefit not only of having your data protected, but you’ll also save precious time.

Backup with standard zip compression.
When using the full backup type, the sources will be archived using standard zip compression. FBackup uses ZIP64 compression, which means that it can create zip files over 2GB in size. Furthermore, you can protect the zip file by requiring a password for extracting data from it.

Exact copies of files.
If you don’t want to have the files stored in one zip file, FBackup can make exact copies of the backup sources. Since FBackup will also back up empty folders, you can use this backup type to create in the destination a “mirror” copy of the original files.

Run actions before/after backup.
For each backup job you can define an action to execute before or after the backup. As an example, you can set a “Clear backup” action before the backup runs, so that all the previous backed up files will be cleared before loading the new ones. As an after-backup action, you can set it to stand by, log off, hibernate or even shut down the computer once the backup successfully finished.

Easy to use.
The two main functions of a backup program are the backup and restore operations. FBackup makes them easy for you, by offering friendly wizards. You start a new backup wizard, select what, where, how and when to backup, and the backup is ready to run. If you have to restore files, you’ll open a restore wizard and it will ask you where you want the files to be restored.

Automatic updates.
FBackup automatically checks for updates weekly, so you’ll know when a new version is released. The option to check for updates can be disabled, but we recommend to let it enabled so that FBackup will be up-to-date.

Multiple backup destinations. By default the location where your backups will be stored is the local windows partition. To be sure you have a secure backup, you’ll need to store the backups on other destinations supported by FBackup (such as an external USB/Firewire drive, or on a mapped network drive). This way, if your computer would suffer a hardware failure, you’ll have your data safe on an external location.

Backup plugins.
You can load plugins for backing up or restoring specific programs’ settings or other custom data (like game saves, email data, etc.). Once loaded in FBackup, these plugins will add in the Predefined Backups list the sources needed to be backed up for that particular program. You can see a list of all the available backup plugins here: Free Backup Plugins.

Backup open files.
If a file is in use by another program at the time of the backup, FBackup will still be able to back up that file, because it uses the Volume Shadow Service that Windows provides. So, as long as you’re on Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2003 Server or Windows 2008 Server, FBackup will back up those open files. As an example, you will be able to back up your Outlook emails and settings without closing it first.

Multi-language.
Choose a language for the user interface from the languages currently supported.

FBackup is a free data backup software, it is not recommended for full system backup (disk image backups).

Mozilla Firefox 3.5

Posted by on June 30, 2009 No comments
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Smart Defrag

Posted by on May 30, 2009 No comments

fragIObit’s Smart Defrag is a wonderful free program.  One of the biggest performance-draining issues with your Windows’ PC will be file system fragmentation.  Simply put, “disk fragmentation leads to system slowdowns, PC crashes, slow startups and shutdowns.”

Imagine your computer’s hard drive as your home.  When your home is neat and orderly, with everything in its place, you are able to perform at your best, finding what you need quickly and efficiently.  However as you become messier and disorganized, tossing your shoes on the living-room floor, instead of in your closet, and placing that screw driver under the kitchen sink, instead of returning it to the tool box, it will take increasingly longer to locate these items when needed.

From time to time, we all need to clean the clutter.  The same is with our PCs.  Information gets tossed around on our hard drives, fragmenting the data and slowing down the performance, while attempting to locate your scattered information in a timely manner.

IObit’s Smart Defrag is an excellent program that automatically defragments your PC for you.  Set it and forget it!  Smart Defrag allows you to easily configure a single or multiple defragging, optimizing schedules.  I have been using Smart Defrag for over a year or more now on over 75 workstations and servers and it has proven instrumental in maintaining healthy running PCs.  I highly recommend it.  It is free, easy, simple and smart!

Know Your Software

Posted by on February 7, 2009 No comments

When Malware Strikes

Nowadays it is more important than ever, to know what protection software you have installed on your PC.  With all the new malware attacks multiplying at an alarming rate, it doesn’t take much to fall victim to one, mistaking it as an update for your existing protection.  These rogue softwares will attempt to fool you into downloading & installing it on your PC or it could even self-install.  You may already have been attacked or know of someone who has been with fraudulent (fake) protection alerts, pop ups, prompts for payment and to run system scans.  Once you run a system scan, the fake program will display false positives.

False positives warn that you’ve been infected with known real threats, even though your PC is not really infected with what is stated.  It’s designed as a scare tactic, to compel you to pay money to make these perceived issues all go away.  The program will then inundate you with pop ups and prompts to pay for the fake protection program, conning you out of your money.

One way to combat such nasty issues is to use one of the best free software programs out there, called Malwarebytes.  An IT Professional friend of mine swears that it’s the best free program to come along in 10 years!  There’s a free version, which is all you need, and a paid version for real-time protection, but I wouldn’t bother.  Free is all you need.  Free.  That sounds good doesn’t it?  Even if you are not currently experiencing PC problems, I’d still highly recommend you to install and run this program once a week minimum as a preventive maintenance practice.  I use it myself, I use it at work, with family and friends.  You won’t regret it!